In its response to the 10th report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life 1 , the Government accepted the recommendation that Annual Public Appointments Plans should be adopted "as the key strategic document for departments to set out their policy and practice relating to the public appointments of chairs and board members of the public bodies they sponsor".
This is the first Department for Transport Annual Public Appointments Plan (APAP). In future years we expect to publish the APAP at the same time as the Department's Annual Report.
The APAP will:
The Cabinet Office also publishes cross government data on NDPBs and public corporations (including those sponsored by DfT) in the "Public Bodies" directory which is updated annually.
1 The Government's Response to the Tenth Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister by Command of Her Majesty, December 2005 (Cm 6723)
As at 31 March 2006, the Department for Transport sponsors ten NDPBs these are:
Public Corporation -
the Civil Aviation Authority
Executive NDPBs -
the Rail Passengers Council (operating name "Passenger Focus")
the Railway Heritage Committee
Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses (operating as The Northern Lighthouse Board)
Trinity House Lighthouse Service
The British Transport Police Authority
The Strategic Rail Authority (in the process of being wound up)
Advisory NDPBs -
The Commission for Integrated Transport
The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee
Tribunal NDPB -
Traffic Commissioners
Table 1, Appendix A (PDF 48Kb) explains these various classifications.
The DfT's aim is transport that works for everyone - a sustainable transport system that provides a safe, reliable and accessible service for all its users whilst supporting economic growth. Table 2, Appendix B (PDF 105 Kb) sets our public bodies in the context of their contribution to meeting DfT business objectives and includes their terms of reference as well as their Board membership.
The DfT Annual Report provides more information on DfT NDPBs and public corporations. Links to the bodies' websites are included in the "useful links" section at the end of this report.
The department makes about 40 appointments a year to the Boards of its NDPBs.
Most appointments to Public Corporations, Executive and Advisory NDBPs are regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) and in accordance with the Commissioner's Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies. However, DfT ensures that wherever possible, all non OCPA regulated appointments are made following OCPA best practice. For example, appointments to the Lighthouse Boards sit outside OCPA's framework because they are generally not made by or on behalf of Ministers 2 . Appointments to these bodies however, fully take into account the OCPA Code.
2 The right of appointment to Trinity House Lighthouse Service lies with the Corporation of Trinity House although the Corporation has agreed that 3 members of its Board may be nominated by DfT. DfT nominates one member of the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) but the appointment itself is made by the NLB Commissioners. The exception to this is DfT Ministers' right to appoint a representative to the NLB for the Isle of Man. The nominee is identified by the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man and made by Ministers. This appointment is normally refreshed only when the office holder retires.
Each public body is sponsored by a business division within the DfT which is responsible for funding, general governance and appointment issues. The department's human resources division ensures that sponsor teams take a consistent approach to making public appointments and that all campaigns are able to withstand scrutiny should they be subject to audit by OCPA.
Each part of the selection and recruitment process closely follows the Cabinet Office guidance Making and Managing Public Appointments. The guidance gives practical advice to departments on how to ensure that their policies and practices are fair, open and transparent; compliant with the OCPA Code of Practice and command the confidence of the public, departmental Ministers and Parliament.
OCPA's seven principles of public appointments provide a checklist for assessing how closely we meet these standards:
i) Ministerial responsibility - DfT Ministers are ultimately responsible for the public appointments made by them or on their behalf. In line with OCPA recommendations, Ministers are involved in the beginning of the public appointments process to agree the general approach to appointment campaigns as well as key documents. They are involved again when the appointment process has been completed. At this point, they are informed of the interview panel's recommendations and are asked to make a choice from the candidates judged by the panel to be appointable. They also agree terms and conditions and levels of remuneration.
ii/iii) Merit and openness and transparency - in line with Cabinet Office guidance the department runs evidence based appointment campaigns. All candidates are assessed against role specific essential/non essential criteria which are outlined in job advertisements and in candidate application packs. This means that candidates are assessed on a consistent basis and appointment decisions are based on relative merit against transparent criteria.
iv) Independent scrutiny - all selection panels include an OCPA trained Independent Assessor whose role is to validate the appointment process and provide expert advice. In line with best practice, DfT uses independent assessors from the central list held by OCPA - ensuring that impartiality is maintained.
v) Equal opportunities - Section 4 below explains the steps we have taken in the reporting period to ensure diversity in our public appointments.
vi) Probity - Board members of public bodies must be committed to the principles and values of public service and perform their duties with integrity. We ensure that all applicants are made aware of the Seven Principles of Public Life enshrined in the OCPA Code. Candidates are asked to highlight any potential or perceived conflicts of interest at application stage and if the selection panel has concerns, these are explored at interview.
vii) Proportionality - the OCPA Code of Practice stresses that the public appointments process should be proportional to the nature of the post and the size and weight of its responsibilities. However, during the period of this report, the department has generally run all of its campaigns to the highest expected OCPA standards to ensure the principles outlined in this section are fully met.
The appointments and re-appointments made in 2005/06 are set out in Appendix B (PDF 83 Kb) of the 2006 DfT Annual Report. These include appointments to two new DfT NDPBs for which DfT became the sponsor department during the period of this report (outlined below).
The two NDPBs for which the Department is now responsible are:
i) The Rail Passengers Council which operates as Passenger Focus. Passenger Focus is a new NDPB, established on 24th July 2005 by reforms contained within the Railways Act 2005. It is a body corporate, executive NDPB of the Department for Transport. On its establishment, the previous Rail Passengers Council network of regional committees and a national council sponsored by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) were abolished.
Passenger Focus is the official independent voice for rail passengers within Great Britain and its mission is to get the best deal for Britain's rail passengers.
In 2005/06 the department made 14 appointments to Passenger Focus, including the appointment of its current Chair.
ii) The Railway Heritage Committee (RHC), responsibility for which transferred from the SRA to the DfT on 21 November 2005. From that date it also became an executive NDPB, having previously not held that status.
The role of the RHC is to identify railway records and artefacts of future value to the nation, in the general interest of the public, for research and scholarship and to ensure they reside in good condition and in appropriate locations.
The Secretary of State appoints the Chairman and members of the RHC. Some members have a statutory representative role as set out in the Railway Heritage Scheme Order 2005. A rolling programme of appointments over the next three to four years will ensure that appointments to the Committee are put out to open competition in line with the OCPA Code. Within the period of this report, the department has begun an appointments campaign as three existing member appointments expire at the end of May 2006 3 and there are a number of statutory positions which are vacant.
One body is in the process of winding up:
Considerable progress has been made during the reporting period towards achieving the commitment in the Future of Rail White Paper to wind up the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA). Relevant provisions of the Railways Act 2005 have now been brought into operation which have the effect of transferring most of the Authority's functions to the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers and other successor bodies. The SRA has been reduced to a few key staff to discharge its remaining responsiblities until such time as it is formally wound up.
As a general rule, all complaints relating to the appointments process must first be dealt with by departments. Thereafter, if a complainant is not satisfied with the department's response they can ask the Commissioner to consider initiating an investigation. The department received two complaints relating to its public appointment campaigns in 2005/06, both of which were dealt with internally. Neither were subsequently referred to the Commissioner.
3 Following the OCPA regulated appointments campaign four new members have been appointed to the Committee and two existing members have been re-appointed with effect from 1 June 2006.
It is a Government imperative to increase the diversity of public appointments. DfT is committed to equality of opportunity in order to make policies and deliver services that are relevant and accessible to everyone. The drive to increase the diversity of the Boards of DfT NDPBs comes also from the Chairs and members of the bodies themselves who recognise that their work must have relevance for all sectors in society.
Women and people from ethnic minorities are still not as successful as some other groups in securing public appointments and we agree with OCPA that the key to increasing representation from these groups is to increase the number of good quality applications coming forward.
DfT has a good record of making appointments of disabled people with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Council comprising over 50% disabled members, as required by statute.
The department will continue to:
work with professional recruitment consultancies to increase the pool of potential applicants - including building up its understanding of recruitment consultants that have a proven track record on diversity;
make explicit our commitment to diversity in advertisements for public appointments and in candidates packs;
advertise appointments through appropriate media - including the public appointments website managed by the Cabinet Office. We will continue to consider the relevance of advertising in diverse media although our experience to date suggests that this is not an effective method of generating interest from our target audience;
make use of independent assessors' excellent knowledge of diversity issues and
ensure, wherever possible, that there is diversity in selection panels and encourage sponsor teams to share ideas and best practice on "what works" in terms of increasing diversity.
The table below shows our diversity targets for public appointments and progress against them during the past two years:
|
Targets set for 2004 - 2006 |
Progress in 2005 |
Progress in 2006 |
|
|
Total number of appointments |
132 |
119 |
|
|
Women |
40% |
20.5 % |
21% |
|
Ethnic Minority |
9% |
6.0% |
8.6% |
|
Disabled |
17% |
16.7% |
17.2% |
Progress has been made on increasing the numbers of ethnic minority appointments and we have exceeded the target set for disabled people. However, we still have progress to make on increasing the number of women on the boards of our public bodies.
|
Future diversity targets |
||
|
2007 |
2008 |
|
|
Women |
40% |
40% |
|
Ethnic Minority |
9% |
9% |
|
Disabled |
17% |
17% |
These targets will be formally reviewed in due course.
Traffic Commissioners - two Commissioners will retire at the end of 2006/07 and one in the following year. A recruitment campaign is likely to be held to fill all three vacancies in Autumn 2006. We will work proactively with recruitment consultants to encourage a diverse range of candidates to apply.
British Transport Police Authority - in June 2006 the Secretary of State agreed to the re-appointment of four members whose tenure ended on 30 June 2006. All four members have been re-appointed for a further four years, as of 1 July 2006. All four members had received satisfactory performance appraisals from the Chairman. As part of a comprehensive review of the British Transport Police carried out in 2005-06, the Secretary of State has reached the decision that membership of the British Transport Police Authority should be increased by an additional two industry members. Nominations will be invited from the rail industry and the successful candidates will be appointed following a selection panel.
Commission for Integrated Transport - in July 2007 two members of CfIT's board will have completed their second term of appointment and therefore, under the OCPA Code, cannot be re-appointed unless there are exceptional circumstances. There is also a vacant post on the Commission's Board. A recruitment campaign is likely to be held to fill three vacancies at the beginning of 2007. Also, in July 2007, three members of the CfIT's Board will have completed their first term of appointment. Their re-appointment will be subject to satisfactory performance appraisal by the Chair.
Railway Heritage Committee - four existing appointments end in 2007-08 and consideration will be given over the next 2 years as to how best to deal with vacancies that arise both in the individual member category and those with a statutory basis.
To ensure that best appointments practice is embedded across the DfT sponsor teams, we will draft DfT specific guidance for those involved in the appointments process. This will help the department to promote a consistent message on public appointments and ensure that our policies and practices are able to stand up to audit by OCPA.
A performance appraisal process will be introduced for Passenger Focus and for the Railway Heritage Committee.
Jackie Coare
Public Appointments Central Co-ordinator
Department for Transport
Talent Management Team
Zone 4/29
Great Minister House
76 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DR
Email: jackie.coare@dft.gsi.gov.uk